I'll save you from Trump and Clinton: Evan McMullinUSA TODAYAs a clandestine services officer in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, I saw exactly the same kind of pay-for-play politics, the corrupt use of national offices for personal gain, and the complete lack of accountability that is a defining ...and more »

Staunton, September 27 – At the end of Soviet times, the Russian people didn’t trust official propaganda even though as a result of state controls they had little access to alternative sources of information. But today, they do trust that propaganda and thus see no need to turn to the plethora of alternatives available, according to Mark Urnov.

In an article in “Nezavisimaya gazeta,” the political analyst at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, says that both what has not changed between Soviet times and now as far as propaganda is concerned is as striking as what has changed both in the government line and the availability of alternatives (ng.ru/stsenarii/2016-09-27/13_narkoz.html).

As in the late Soviet period so too now, television is the main channel for the dissemination of propaganda providing in both cases “not so much factual information as evaluations,” Urnov says. “The role of all other channels of mass information (radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet) is incomparably less important as far as propaganda is concerned.”

So too as in the late Soviet period, the two main messages of Russian propaganda today are the great significance of Russia in the world and the striving of others and above all the United States to restrict that role in order to “subordinate Russia to its interests and establish control over our natural resources.”

There are major differences. Because it did not face much competition from other channels, Soviet propaganda suggested that the Soviet people lived “significantly better than toilers in capitalist countries and that the economy of our country was not behind that of America’s.

Now, fully recognizing that insisting on those two points is a fool’s errand, Russian government propaganda focuses not on the level of Russian life or live in other countries but on the justice of Russia in seeking a multi-polar world and the evil of the US that “seeks to remain the only super power.”

That shift reflects the fact that “the information background” available to Russians now is incomparable to that available to Soviet citizens.Soviet propagandists could count on the fact that their audience had few alternative sources and would thus accept whatever Moscow declared to be true.

Now, Russian propagandists know they must operate in a world in which their audience at least potentially has widespread access to alternative ideas. Thus the focus on values rather than on facts. But what is striking is this, Urnov continues. “Now there is no official monopoly, but the alternative sources clearly don’t attract the attention of a broad public.”

The reason for this is rooted in a major difference from the late Soviet period. Then, “fewer than five percent” believed what officials said. Indeed, many assumed that if Soviet officials said something, the opposite or something close to it must be true. Now, the situation is very different.

More than 70 percent of Russians today accept anti-American propaganda as true, Urnov says, and for two important reasons: Russians are happy to be able to blame someone other than themselves for their difficulties and are convinced that “being great” is “the natural state” of the Russian nation, a view they have had for five hundred years.

The problem with such views, Urnov says, is that they prevent Russians from facing up to and having an honest discussion of the problems their country faces. And without such discussions, they won’t be able to address them in a timely fashion, guaranteeing that they will only get worse and will end in tragedy.

Ties that bind Tehran and MoscowRussia Beyond the HeadlinesToday, there is a new surge of Russian-Iranian cooperation, which outrages the West. But contrary to popular belief, most of these projects are economic in nature. Of course, Russia and Iran both support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.and more »

In this week’s Western media highlights, Andrei Soldatov explains in Foreign Policy the implications of the potential revival of the Ministry of State Security in Russia, which he calls a “reincarnation of the KGB.” Timothy Snyder delves into Russia’s political history and analyzes the influence that one particular figure—philosopher Ivan Ilyin—has gained over Putin and the rest of the Kremlin elites. Meanwhile, in the Russian media, experts have been discussing Russia’s recent parliamentary elections and the flaws in Russian liberal thinking.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic State militants are "dead set" on using chemical arms and are likely to try them again as Iraqi forces advance on Mosul, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday, a week after a rocket with a possible chemical agent landed near U.S. troops.

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said his country, a longtime U.S. ally, was seeking to build "many news alliances" and could turn to Russia and China for help, including on tackling his country's drug problem.

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - France and Germany made the case for the European Union's most ambitious defense plan in almost two decades on Tuesday, aiming to persuade skeptical eastern members and avoid a showdown with Britain over its military future outside the bloc.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and their allies attacked the opposition-held sector of Aleppo on several fronts on Tuesday, the biggest ground assault yet in a massive new military campaign that has destroyed a U.S.-backed ceasefire.

Russia should join NATO: the benefits for the Global Security are enormous

To reformulate Lord Ismay's phrase: 1) Take Russia in, 2) Continue keeping Germany down, 3) Assert and exercise the US leadership position within the NATO as a unifying and directing force and vector.

"Ловец Человеков"

Connected? The halo is there. And the Book is there. And the disciples are there. But where is the Light of Understanding, in this big curved dark tunnel of a vision? Where is the big red dot? Where is the new beginning?

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Hillary Clinton and rock group Pussy Riot

"Great to meet the strong & brave young women from #PussyRiot, who refuse to let their voices be silenced in #Russia. 1:09 PM - 4 Apr 2014" - Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton tweeted a picture Friday of her posing with members of the anti-Vladimir Putin punk rock group Pussy Riot. Clinton met with the women during the "Women in the World Summit" in New York. The group has emerged as chief opponents of Putin, and three members were jailed in 2012 after an anti-Putin performance at a church. The tweet has been re-tweeted almost 10,000 times.